Method to facilitate engagement and communication between a company and a recruiter including a bounty

ABSTRACT

The present invention includes a method to facilitate engagement and communication between a company with an available position and a recruiter. The method includes the steps of posting information about the available position for the company, and receiving information about a candidate for the available position of the company from the recruiter, and submitting the information about the candidate for the available position of the company to the company. The method further includes the step of receiving payment from the company and transmitting a portion of the payment to the recruiter upon the selection by the company of a candidate for the available position.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No.12/208,283, filed on 10 Sep. 2008 and entitled “Method to FacilitateEngagement and Communication Between a Company and a Recruiter Includinga Bounty,” now U.S. Pat. No. ______, which is a continuation in part ofinternational application number PCT/US2006/044168 filed on 13 Nov. 2006and entitled “Method to Facilitate Engagement and Communication betweena Company and a Recruiter Including a Bounty,” which claims priority to:U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/747,373 filed 16 May 2006 andentitled “System and Method to Facilitate a Marketplace on a Network:”U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/806,603 filed 5 Jul. 2006 andentitled “Method for Finding Job Candidates with Active Recruiters;” andU.S. Provisional Application No. 60/806,606 filed 5 Jul. 2006 andentitled “Method for Submitting Job Candidates.”

U.S. application Ser. No. 12/208,283 filed on 10 Sep. 2008 and entitled“Method to Facilitate Engagement and Communication Between a Company anda Recruiter Including a Bounty,” now U.S. Pat. No. ______ claimspriority to: U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/971,102 filed 10 Sep.2007 and entitled “Method to Facilitate Engagement and Communicationbetween a Company and a Recruiter: Status Updates;” U.S. ProvisionalApplication No. 60/971,106 filed 10 Sep. 2007 and entitled “Method toFacilitate Engagement and Communication between a Company and aRecruiter: Hiring Deadline;” U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/971,109filed 10 Sep. 2007 and entitled “Method to Facilitate Engagement andCommunication between a Company and a Recruiter: Propose Bounty;” U.S.Provisional Application No. 60/971,112 filed 10 Sep. 2007 and entitled“Method to Facilitate Engagement and Communication between a Company anda Recruiter: Standing Bounty;” U.S. Provisional Application No.60/971,126 filed 10 Sep. 2007 and entitled “Method to FacilitateEngagement and Communication between a Company and a Recruiter:Messaging;” U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/971,128 filed 10 Sep.2007 and entitled “Method to Facilitate Engagement and Communicationbetween a Company and a Recruiter: Pending Engagements,” U.S.Provisional Application No. 60/971,131 filed 10 Sep. 2007 and entitled“Method to Facilitate Engagement and Communication between a Company anda Recruiter: Feedback,” U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/977,563filed 4 Oct. 2007 and entitled “Method to Facilitate Engagement andCommunication between a Company and a Recruiter: Sorting by Login.” Allthirteen patent documents (one U.S. Patent Application, oneinternational patent application and the eleven U.S. ProvisionalApplications) are incorporated in their entirety by this reference.

TECHNICAL FIELD

This invention relates generally to the e-commerce field, and morespecifically to an improved method to facilitate engagement andcommunication between a company with an available position and arecruiter in the e-commerce field.

BACKGROUND

With the increasing mobility and sophistication of the modern laborforce, companies often need to quickly fill an available position.Because of the depth and breadth of the expertise of most companies, itis impractical for them to engage candidates directly through acentralized human resources department. As such, many companies utilizeone or more recruiters for the purpose of finding appropriate candidatesfor the required positions.

An unfortunate result of the use of recruiters is that companies areoften inundated with information about candidates that are not qualifiedfor one reason or another. Moreover, companies are often forced to dealwith inexperienced or otherwise undesirable recruiters that do not havethe appropriate skills for attracting the necessary talent. As a result,the combination of unqualified candidates and inefficient orinexperienced candidates forces companies to invest substantial time andresources in the evaluation and eventual rejection of prospectivecandidates. Ironically, the proliferation of inexperienced recruiterssubmitting the information of unqualified candidates places such asignificant burden on the companies that for all practical purposes,they might be just as well served to perform their recruiting throughtheir own firm. Thus, there is a need in the e-commerce field to createan improved, new and useful method to facilitate engagement andcommunication between a company with an available position and arecruiter.

SUMMARY

Accordingly, the present invention includes an improved, new and usefulmethod to facilitate engagement and communication between a company withan available position and a recruiter. The method includes the steps ofposting information about the available position for the company, andreceiving information about a candidate for the available position ofthe company from the recruiter and submitting the information about thecandidate for the available position of the company to the company. Themethod further includes the step of receiving payment from the companyand transmitting a portion of the payment to the recruiter upon theselection by the company of a candidate for the available position.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

FIG. 1 is a flowchart illustrating the steps of a method of a preferredembodiment of the invention;

FIGS. 2-3 is a schematic diagram illustrating the parties involved inthe method of the preferred embodiment; and

FIGS. 4-14 are screen shots depicting a user interface and a networkedcomputer in accordance with alternative embodiments of the presentinvention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The following description of the preferred embodiments of the inventionis not intended to limit the invention to these preferred embodiments,but rather to enable any person skilled in the art to make and use thisinvention.

As shown in FIG. 1, the method of the preferred embodiment includes aseries of steps to facilitate engagement and communication between acompany with an available position and a recruiter. As used herein, theterm “company” refers to an entity or natural person that is engaged ina business. The term “available position” refers to any opportunity fora relationship between the company and any natural person or entity (a“candidate”). The term “relationship” includes, for example, anemployment agreement, a service agreement, or any other contractualarrangement involving payment by the company to the candidate for dueconsideration according to the relationship. The term “recruiter” refersto any natural person or entity that engages, on a limited or exclusivebasis, in the business of facilitating the entry of a candidate and acompany into a relationship. The term “bounty” is a payment or reward,preferably in the form of a monetary transaction, from the company tothe recruiter for the acceptance of a submitted candidate.

Step S102 of the method of the preferred embodiment recites postinginformation about the available position for the company. Theinformation about the available position can include any pertinent orrequisite skills preferred or required for the available position aswell as any background information about the company or the availableposition. Additionally, the information about the available position caninclude for example any necessary submissions by the candidate includingany pertinent biographical or working history, including for example aresume, curriculum vitae, writing sample, salary requirements, salaryhistory, employment history, employer references, background checkinformation, professional or paraprofessional licenses, credit history,citizenship status, employment visa status, security clearances, and/orany additional information required for the available position. StepS102 may include sending an attachment relating to a candidatesubmission from the recruiter to an employer. This attachment may be awriting sample, a coding sample, a transcript, or any other suitableattachment related to a candidate submission.

Step S104 of the method of the preferred embodiment recites receivinginformation about a candidate for the available position of the companyfrom the recruiter and submitting the information about the candidatefor the available position to the company. The information about thecandidate can include any pertinent biographical or working history,including for example a resume, curriculum vitae, writing sample, salaryrequirements, salary history, employment history, employer references,background check information, professional or paraprofessional licenses,credit history, citizenship status, employment visa status, securityclearances, and/or any additional information required for the availableposition.

Step S106 of the method of the preferred embodiment recites receivingpayment from the company and transmitting a portion of the payment tothe recruiter upon selection by the company of a candidate for theavailable position.

In a first variation of the preferred embodiment, steps S102 and S104are performable over a computer network. As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, anintermediary 10, a company 12, a plurality of recruiters (R₁, R₂, R₃,and RN) 18 and a plurality of candidates (C₁, C₂, C₃, C₄, C₅ and CN) areoperatively connectable, either through wired or wireless means, to acomputer network 14. The computer network 14 functions to permit datacommunications between two or more parties, such as the company 12 andone or more of the plurality of recruiters 18, such that the company 12and the one or more of the plurality of recruiters 18 need not be indirect, personal contact regarding the available position or anyattribute thereof. Moreover, the computer network 14 functions to allowthe company 12 to readily post information 20 about the availableposition to the plurality of recruiters 18 in a simultaneous,interactive, and widely disseminated manner. The computer network 14further functions to permit the recruiters to submit information about acandidate 22 to the company 12, and for the company 12 to access one ormore submissions 24. Lastly, the computer network 14 functions tofacilitate the receipt of payment 26 from the company 12 and thetransmitting of a portion of the payment 28 to a recruiter 18. Thecomputer network 14 can include any two or more computers that areconnectable directly or indirectly through a local or wide-network,including for example the Internet or World Wide Web. Each of thecompany and the plurality of recruiters can communicate through thecomputer network 14, for instance through a single website consisting ofmultiple web pages operated by an intermediary 10. In the firstvariation of the method of the preferred embodiment, step S102 caninclude for example posting information about the available position onor through any computer that is connected to or connectable to thecomputer network 14, such as for example a server, personal computer,personal digital assistant, mobile phone or any other combination ofhardware and/or software that is adapted to perform machine executableinstructions according to the method of the preferred embodiment.Similarly, step S104 can include receiving information about a candidatefor the available position of the company from the recruiter andsubmitting the information about the candidate for the availableposition to the company on or through any computer that is connected orconnectable to the network 14 as described above.

In a second variation of the method of the preferred embodiment, StepS102 includes posting information about the available position for thecompany and a number of submissions for the available position. The stepof posting the number of submissions for the available positionfunctions to inform the company and one or more recruiters as to theprobability of a successful selection by the company of a candidatethrough the laws of supply and demand. As such, the step of posting thenumber of submissions for the available position further functions toinform the company and one or more recruiters as to the competitivenessof: (1) the company's position with regard to potential candidates, and(2) the one or more recruiters relative prospects of having one of itscandidates selected by the company. If the number of submissions islarge at a point in time, the company's competitive position isrelatively increased while that of each individual recruiter isdecreased. Conversely, if the number of submissions is small at a pointin time, the company's competitive position is relatively decreasedwhile that of each individual recruiter is increased. In one version ofthe second variation of the method of the preferred embodiment, S104 maybe adapted to include displaying the current stage of the candidatehiring process. The company may post an update on the current stage ofthe hiring process, such as “contacting candidate”, “interviewing viatelephone”, “interviewing in person”, “skills testing”, “referencechecking”, “vacations”, “remove from public marketplace”, “negotiating”,“accepted”, “candidate declined offer”, “candidate not selected”, or anyother suitable hiring process stage. This allows the recruiter to judgethe likelihood of receiving the bounty for the candidate. It also allowsemployers to make a bounty private to only those recruiters that theywant to invite. In another variation, recruiters may agree to accept areduced bounty or pay a small fee to view the update on the currentstage of the candidate hiring process. In yet another version, companiesmay pay a fee to avoid providing updates on the current stage of thehiring process. Similarly, S106 may also be adapted to include statusupdates on the payment of the bounty, particularly if there are anyspecial conditions that may be applied before a bounty is paid, such asan applicant passing a drug test.

In a third variation of the method of the preferred embodiment, stepS102 includes posting a bounty for the available position of thecompany. The step of posting a bounty for the available position of thecompany functions to increase the incentives for any one or morerecruiters to submit the information about a candidate to the company.The step of posting a bounty for the available position of the companycan be performed by the company or any agent of the company. The postingof the bounty is performable over a computer network 14 of the typedescribed above with reference to FIGS. 2 and 3. Alternatively, theposting of the bounty is performable through any other means ormechanisms not involving a computer network of the type described above.The bounty can include for example a pecuniary award payable in exchangefor a successful selection of a candidate for the available position.The bounty can be payable through any means, including cash, check,credit card payment, wire transfer and the like, and can be payable inany currency or denominations thereof.

In one alternative to the third variation of the method of the preferredembodiment includes allowing the company to modify the amount of thebounty. Allowing the company to modify the bounty functions to permitthe company to attract more or fewer potential recruiters, and thus moreor fewer potential candidates for the available position. As expectedaccording to general economic principles, if the company decreases theamount of the bounty, then fewer recruiters and thus fewer potentialcandidates will likely be interested in the available position. On thecontrary, if the company increases the amount of the bounty, then morerecruiters thus more potential candidates will likely be interested inthe available position. Alternatively, the method can include the stepof allowing the company to modify the amount of the bounty such that thecompany is allowed to increase, but not decrease, the amount of thebounty. This alternative functions to assure the recruiter at least aminimum value of a bounty, such that the recruiter is willing to investthe necessary time and energy in order to submit a candidate for theavailable position.

In other alternatives to the third variation of the method of thepreferred embodiment, the bounty is related to step S106 shown inFIG. 1. In one alternative, step S106 includes receiving payment fromthe company in an amount more than the bounty and transmitting an amountequal to the bounty to the recruiter. Alternatively, step S106 caninclude receiving payment from the company in an amount equal to thebounty and transmitting an amount less than the bounty to the recruiter.As noted above, step S106 can be performed by any party including anynatural person or entity, as well as any of the parties described hereinincluding the intermediary 10, shown in FIGS. 2 and 3. According to thevariations described above therefore, the performer of the method canreceive remuneration for its services depending upon the relationshipbetween the bounty and the amounts payable/receivable from therecruiter/company, respectively.

In yet other alternative to the third variation of the method of thepreferred embodiment, the bounty is related to steps S102 and S104 shownin FIG. 1. To avoid massive amounts of information overload, thepostings can be restricted and/or the submissions may be restricted tocertain recruiters based on the size of the bounty and based on thequalifications of the recruiter. For example, available positions withsmaller bounties may be viewed by a larger portion (or all) of therecruiters, while available positions with larger bounties may be viewedby a smaller portion of the recruiters. In other words, the higher thebounty, the more restrictive (in terms of viewing an available positionand/or a submitting information about a candidate). The restrictions maybe based on one of the following measurements: number of submissions,number of selections of the candidates submitted to the recruiter, ratioof number of submissions to number of selections of the candidatessubmitted by the recruiter, an amount paid to the recruiter, candidatesubmission interview rate, recently filled positions, submission openedrate (the % of submissions by a recruiter that are opened), submissionprocessed rate (the % of submissions not rejected or acted on within atime period (e.g. two weeks)) or any combination thereof. Alternatively,the restriction can be based on, for each recruiter, the number ofdesignations as a blocked recruiter or a number of designations as apreferred recruiter, or any ratio or combination there of.Alternatively, the limited number can be based on various qualitativejudgments or rankings from companies for which the recruiter hasperformed in the past, or any combination of quantitative andqualitative factors or judgments indicative of the limited number ofactive listings to which the recruiter should be entitled.

In another version of the third variation of the method of the preferredembodiment, S102, S104 and S106 may be adapted to include hiring a bestcandidate by a deadline. In step S104, candidates are preferablysubmitted by recruiters before a deadline presented with the joblisting. The company preferably evaluates the job candidate as being agood match for the position right before the hiring decision is made,i.e. at the deadline. However, the company may evaluate the currentlysubmitted candidates at any time before the deadline and rank thecandidates in order, or simply select the best candidate, display therankings, and/or notify the other recruiters to keep looking for abetter candidate. In one version, recruiters may agree to accept areduced bounty, or pay a fee to view the ranking of their candidateand/or all other candidates for the position. Companies may end thecandidate submission time early if an acceptable candidate is found, andthis may cost a fee. Step S106 may include holding the bounty in escrowby a third party. Further, a company may specify that one recruiter fromthe pool of recruiters that submit candidate information will earn abounty, or otherwise signify that the company is not recruiting for thatposition from other sources than the pool of recruiters that submitcandidate information.

In another alternative to the third variation of the method of thepreferred embodiment, S102, S104 and S106 may be adapted to include thecreation and payment of a standing bounty for candidates. Step S102 mayinclude allowing the company to place a standing order for at least oneskill or type of candidate that the company is always looking for (suchas software engineers at Google). Step S104 may include allowing acompany to accept any number of candidate submissions from recruitersfor an indefinite time (or until later modified). Since the bounty is astanding bounty, the recruiter may submit any number of candidates, thenumber of candidate submissions per recruiter may be limited, or aspecified number of un-hired candidate submissions may limit or reducethe frequency of submissions by the recruiter. The company may acceptany number of candidate submissions from recruiters for an indefinitetime. Step S106 may include the recruiter receiving payments for eachrecruiter submitted candidate hired. These payments may be fixed amountsor fixed percentages of the company payment to a third party, or theamount of the payment may be variable, i.e. the payment from the companyincreases or decreases for each additional hired candidate submitted bya recruiter. Additionally, the standing order may appear as only asingle job listing which may be re-listed either manually from a pool ofpositions (to clone) or automatically via a specification of thecompany.

In an additional version of the third variation of the method of thepreferred embodiment, a recruiter submitting multiple candidates for astanding bounty or multiple candidates for different positions at acompany may earn a modified bounty, preferably a greater bounty. Thismodified bounty may be a higher fee for each additional candidate, orthe modified bounty may be calculated synergistically (an extra 3% onall bounties for each additional candidate).

In a fourth variation of the method of the preferred embodiment, stepS104 further includes the step of checking a database of previouslysubmitted information about a candidate for the available position ofthe company and if information about the candidate for the availableposition of the company has not been previously submitted, thensubmitting the information about the candidate for the availableposition of the company to the company, otherwise informing therecruiter that the information about the candidate for the availableposition of the company has been previously submitted. The fourthvariation of the method of the preferred embodiment functions toprohibit the company from receiving information about any one candidatefrom multiple recruiters, which would hinder the efficiency andselection process of the company. The performer of this variation ofstep S104 therefore provides a clearinghouse service to the company byprohibiting multiple submissions of redundant information, whichaccelerates the efficiency and selection process of the company. Theprocess of checking a database may include, for example, checking for aparticular identification of the candidate. The identification mayinclude, for example, the full name, the Social Security Number, theDriver's License Number, the home address, the email address, the phonenumber (home, work, or mobile), or any other appropriate identificationof the candidate. The process of checking a database may alternativelyinclude checking a hash function (a small digital “fingerprint”) of aportion of the submission, such as the resume of the candidate.

In a fifth variation of the method of the preferred embodiment, themethod includes the step of allowing the company to designate arecruiter as a preferred recruiter for the company. The step of allowingthe company to designate a recruiter as a preferred recruiter functionsto further streamline the selection process and to provide the companymore control in its dealings with the plurality of recruiters. This stepcan be performed by any party designed above, including for example anintermediary as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3. Moreover, allowing the companyto designate one or more preferred recruiters may lead to cost savingsin the selection process, as one or more preferred recruiters may bepreferred for their relatively low costs, high rate of performance, orboth. In one variation, the preferred recruiter is highlighted or markedwith a color or symbol such as a “P” or a star.

In an alternative to the fifth variation, the method of the preferredembodiment further includes the steps of receiving contact informationfor the company, and upon designation of the recruiter as a preferredrecruiter for the company, allowing the preferred recruiter to accessthe contact information of the company. The performer of this stepfunctions as another type of clearinghouse for the company to the extentthat, at the company's discretion, it can authorize only a designatedpreferred recruiter to access its contact information. Those recruitersthat are not designated as preferred recruiters will not have access tothe company's contact information, and therefore will be less likely tosubmit candidate information to the company. Accordingly, the performerof this step aids in the streamlining and efficiency of the selectionprocess by protecting the company from receiving unsolicited,non-preferred or otherwise undesirable submissions from a non-designatedrecruiter.

In a sixth variation of the method of the preferred embodiment, themethod further includes the step of allowing the company to designate arecruiter as a blocked recruiter for the company. In this step, theperformer of the step functions to further protect the efficiency andtimeliness of the submission process by limiting, at the designation ofthe company, the number and quality of recruiters that are submittingcandidate information for any particular position for the company. Thiscould be employed, for example, when a company determines that aparticular recruiter has ignored the requirements for a particularavailable position, has submitted poor candidates, or has otherwisedisappointed the company.

In an alternative to the sixth variation, the method further includesthe steps of: upon receiving information about a candidate for theavailable position of the company from the recruiter, checking adatabase of blocked recruiters for the company and if the recruiter isnot a blocked recruiter for the company, then submitting the informationabout the candidate for the available position of the company to thecompany. If the recruiter is a blocked recruiter, then the alternativestep includes informing the recruiter that the information about thecandidate for the available position of the company has not beensubmitted. Functionally, the performer of these alternative stepsfurther functions as a clearinghouse for the company, with the addedbenefits of automatically informing the recruiter that its services arenot available to the company.

In a seventh variation of the method of the preferred embodiment, themethod further includes the step of allowing the recruiter to list as anactive (or “engaged”) recruiter for the available position. This stepfunctions to allow a recruiter to signal increased interest in thecompany and the available position for the company, which in turnfurther functions to allow a recruiter to distinguish himself amongstother recruiters that may be passively interested in the submission forthe available position. The step of listing as an active recruiter canbe performed on or through a computer network such as that describedabove, thereby communicating the recruiter's listing to the company withthe available position. The method may also include the step of allowingthe recruiter to de-list a recruiter as an active recruiter for anavailable position. This step functions to permit a company to regulatethe number and/or quality of recruiters that can submit themselves as anactive recruiter for a particular available position. The de-listing canbe performed through a computer network, such as through anInternet-based software operable through two or more networkedcomputers. The de-listing can be in response to a past performance of arecruiter, a performance history of the recruiter, to decrease thenumber of active recruiters for the available position, or any otherreason.

An alternative to the seventh variation includes a variation of stepS102 that includes posting information about the available position forthe company and the number of active recruiters for the availableposition. This step functions to permit a company see the number andidentity of those active recruiters that are showing an increased levelof interest in submitting candidate information for the availableposition. This step further functions to allow one or more recruiters tosee the aggregate interest in, and hence the prospective competitionfor, a submission with respect to the available position. To the extentthat there are a large number of active recruiters, the company canexpect a proportionally large number of submissions of information aboutcandidates. Conversely, if there are a small number of activerecruiters, then the company may opt to modify the amount of the bountyas described above in order to attract more interest from thoserecruiters that are not currently listed as active recruiters.

In a further alternative to the seventh variation, the step S102 caninclude posting information about the placement history for the activerecruiters for an available position. As in other steps noted above,performance of this step functions to distinguish one or more activerecruiters from each other, thereby allowing the company to morecompetitively select a proper recruiter and/or block any undesirablerecruiters. Moreover, posting of the placement history functions toinform other recruiters about the success rate of their respectivecompetition, thereby increasing each party's incentive to perform wellin the submission step. In one version, the placement history includesone of the following measurements: number of submissions, number ofselections of the candidates submitted to the recruiter, ratio of numberof submissions to number of selections of the candidates submitted bythe recruiter, an amount paid to the recruiter or any combinationthereof. In another version, the placement history can include variousqualitative judgments or rankings from companies for which the recruiterhas performed in the past, or any combination of quantitative andqualitative factors or judgments indicative of the placement history ofthe recruiter. In yet another version, the placement history can includespecific information about the successful placements of the recruiter inthe past, such as information about the available position, the company,the elapsed time from the original posting to the submission of thefirst candidate or to the submission of the eventually selectedcandidate, the elapsed time from the posting to the selection of acandidate.

in another further alternative of the seventh variation of the method ofthe preferred embodiment, a list of active (or “pending”) engagements ofa particular recruiter may be viewed by a recruiter evaluating acompany, a company evaluating a recruiter, and/or a job candidateevaluating a recruiter and/or a company. The list of pending engagementsmay be filtered based on parameters such as number of jobs recruitingfor, competitors, number of successful placements, number of jobsavailable, average response time, priority, or any other recruitingmethod. One of the purposes of the list is to provide some indicator ofthe responsiveness of the other party. For example a recruiter mayreview a list of the pending engagements of a company and determine theresponsiveness/likelihood of getting a bounty is lower-than-desired ifthe company has a large number of jobs posted, a large number ofpreferred recruiters, or a large number of candidates pending for aparticular job. However, a company may also evaluate how many othercompanies a recruiter was currently working for and use this informationto decide whether or not to use the recruiter. For example, if arecruiter were a preferred recruiter for a number of well-knowncompanies, then a company may view that recruiter as more successful andalso engage them, even though they have a large number of pendingengagements. An additional purpose of the list of pending engagementsmay be to allow companies to determine if a recruiter may have conflictsof interest, or be working with competitors.

In another alternative to the seventh variation of the method of thepreferred variation, the method further includes the steps of uponreceiving information about a candidate for the available position ofthe company from the recruiter, checking a database of active recruitersfor the company and if the recruiter is not an active recruiter for thecompany, then receiving payment from the recruiter and submitting theinformation about the candidate for the available position of thecompany to the company. The monetary transaction functions as adisincentive for the non-active recruiter to submit candidates withoutproperly considering the job position and the needs of the company. Iffaced with a charge to submit a candidate for a position, the non-activerecruiter will likely limit or filter their submissions. Thus, theperformer of this step aids in the streamlining and efficiency of theselection process by discouraging the submission of unsolicited,non-preferred or otherwise undesirable submissions from a non-activerecruiter. The monetary transaction may be proportional, or otherwiserelated, to the size of the bounty of the available position.

In another alternative to the seventh variation of the method of thepreferred variation, the method further includes the steps of uponreceiving information about a candidate for the available position ofthe company from the recruiter, checking a database of active recruitersfor the company and if the recruiter is not an active recruiter for thecompany, then informing the recruiter that the information about thecandidate for the available position of the company has not beensubmitted. Functionally, the performer of these alternative stepsfurther functions as a clearinghouse for the company, with the addedbenefits of automatically informing the recruiter that its services arenot available to the company.

In another variation of the seventh variation of the method of thepreferred embodiment, the method includes the step of allowing therecruiter to list as an active recruiter for a limited number ofavailable positions. This step functions to increase the efficiency ofthe submission process by preventing recruiters from listing as activerecruiters for an unsuitable number of available positions. To theextent that each recruiter is so limited, then each recruiter will haveadditional incentive, time and energy to most effectively submitinformation for more worthy candidates for the limited number ofavailable positions. The limited number can be universally applied toevery recruiter, or it can be individualized for each recruiter, or itcan be determined according to a formula or combination of factors. Forexample, the limited number can be based on one of the followingmeasurements: number of submissions, number of selections of thecandidates submitted to the recruiter, ratio of number of submissions tonumber of selections of the candidates submitted by the recruiter, anamount paid to the recruiter or any combination thereof. Alternatively,the limited number can be based on, for each recruiter, the number ofdesignations as a blocked recruiter or a number of designations as apreferred recruiter, or any ratio or combination there of.Alternatively, the limited number can be based on various qualitativejudgments or rankings from companies for which the recruiter hasperformed in the past, or any combination of quantitative andqualitative factors or judgments indicative of the limited number ofactive listings to which the recruiter should be entitled.

In an eighth variation of the method of the preferred embodiment, themethod further includes the step of facilitating the mutual acceptanceby both the company and the recruiter of the recruiter as an activerecruiter for an available position of the company. The step offacilitating functions to streamline and accelerate the submissionprocess by appropriately matching the company with a suitable recruiterfor the active recruiter designation. The facilitation step can includefor example, the aforementioned steps of establishing preferred,blocked, active, or de-listed recruiters as well as posting aperformance history for each recruiter. Alternatively, the facilitationstep can include providing a contract, agreement, discount, bonus orother incentive to designate the recruiter as an active recruiter.Alternatively, the facilitation step can include allowing the company toinvite a recruiter from their list of preferred recruiters. As such, thefacilitation step can further include the step of providing contactinformation for a recruiter, and providing contact information for anyrecruiter designated as a preferred recruiter to the company thatdesignated the recruiter as such. The step may also include entering acontract with a recruiter (a contracted recruiter is preferablyconsidered a preferred recruiter and preferably has substantially thesame rights as a preferred recruiter, but a preferred recruiter is notnecessarily a contracted recruiter). The contract may also dictate amodified bounty for a recruiter entering a contract with a company,which may ultimately be reflected as a discount to the company.

In an alternative version of the eighth variation of the method of thepreferred embodiment, the method includes the step of facilitating themutual acceptance by both the company and the recruiter of the recruiteras an exclusive recruiter for an available position of a company. Thisstep can include for example, causing the company to de-listsubstantially all active recruiters for an available position, such thata remaining recruiter becomes an exclusive recruiter for the availableposition. Alternatively, the step can include providing an agreement tobe executed by the company and the recruiter, wherein the agreementspecifies that only information about a candidate received from theexclusive recruiter can be submitted to the company. Alternatively, theagreement can authorize the third party or intermediary to block thesubmissions of all other recruiters to the company, the posting by thecompany of information regarding the available position to any otherrecruiters, or any combination thereof.

In another version of the eighth variation of the method of thepreferred embodiment, a company may post private bounties available onlyto selected recruiters, such as an exclusive recruiter that the companywould like to work with, a group of recruiters that the company wouldlike to work with, or any other suitable metric. In any listing of thecompany jobs, the bounty listing would be displayed as a privateposition, unless the viewer was with the company or among the selectedrecruiters. The position is preferably not displayed to recruiters untilthey are accepted as an exclusive recruiter, a preferred recruiter, anengaged recruiter or any other suitable recruiter designation that thecompany has specified for viewing the private position listing.

In a ninth variation of the method of the preferred embodiment, S102,S104 and S106 may be adapted to include proposing a new bounty for a jobcandidate. Step S102 may include modifications to the bounty agreement,where both the recruiters and the company agree on the bounty inadvance, if candidates are determined to be better suited for anotherjob within the company. The other job in the company is preferably a jobalready posted, but may alternatively be a newly created job for acandidate, or a job not yet listed. In order to prevent the company fromtaking advantage of the recruiter, and proposing low bounties oncandidates they will hire for other positions than the position thecandidate was submitted for, it is preferable to have an initial bountymodification agreement in place. The recruiter, the company, or anindependent third party preferably specifies the bounty modificationagreement in advance. The bounty modification agreement preferablyincludes a percentage of the original bounty, for example 125% or 80% ofthe bounty of the original position, and is agreed upon by all partiesbefore the candidate is submitted. The company, when evaluating acandidate submitted by a recruiter for a position in S104, may determinethat the candidate is acceptable and hire the candidate. However, inStep S104, the company may also determine that the candidate is a goodcandidate for another position within the company that may not have beenposted, or may be created for the candidate. In this case, the companymay propose a new bounty to the recruiter that submitted the candidateif no pre-agreed bounty modification terms have been agreed upon thenStep S104 might also include modifying the bounty agreement. Step S104may also include proposing a new job in the company, and accepting thecandidate as an applicant for that position at a pre-determined bountyfor proposing new jobs. The bounty determined in step S102 may be paidin S106 according to the terms agreed upon between the company, therecruiter and any third parties involved in the recruitment process.

In a tenth variation of the method of the preferred embodiment, themethod includes the step of sending or displaying a message for allrecruiters or all preferred recruiters. This message may containinformation about a particular job opening that is high priority.Preferably the message is sent over a communications medium, such asemail, instant message, voice messaging, SMS, bulletin board posting,blog, or any other suitable communication messaging medium.

In an eleventh variation of the method of the preferred embodiment, themethod includes the step of soliciting feedback on recruiterperformance. The feedback is preferably collected from at least one ofthe company and the job candidate. The feedback preferably inquiresabout the candidate quality, candidate matching success, courtesy,efficiency, professional demeanor, and/or any other important metrics ofthe recruiter's performance for the company. The feedback solicitationis preferably performed with a drop down selection box on a web page,but may alternatively be a comment box, a telephone survey, a mailsurvey, or any other method of soliciting recruiter feedback. Thefeedback is preferably displayed to recruiters so they may improve, butit is also preferably displayed to companies to enable a company toevaluate a particular recruiter. The feedback may also be displayed tothe job candidate, to allow them to evaluate the recruiter. Messagessent to the recruiter are preferably pre-written, to provide standardinformative feedback, while minimizing the risk of candidate lawsuitsdue to discrimination. A pre-written message may simply be a list ofcheckboxes (such as “not right skills”, “not enough experience”, “wronglocation”, “wrong visa status”, etc.) or a pre-written message may be adrafted letter of intent, acceptance, rejection, or any othercommunication between companies and recruiters.

In a twelfth variation of the method of the preferred embodiment, themethod includes the step of soliciting feedback on a bounty. Thefeedback is preferably collected from at least one of the recruiters orpreferred recruiters. The feedback preferably inquires about the size ofthe bounty, the challenges of the job placement, and/or any otherimportant metrics of the bounty. The feedback solicitation is preferablyperformed with a drop down selection box on a web page, but mayalternatively be a comment box, a telephone survey, a mail survey, orany other method of soliciting feedback. The feedback is preferablydisplayed to company so they may improve or modify the bounties. Thefeedback may also be displayed to other recruiters, to allow them toevaluate the company and/or bounty.

In a thirteenth variation of the method of the preferred embodiment, theposted jobs may be sorted by a first sorting parameter such as industry,job title, job requirements, salary, bounty amount, region, or any othersuitable sorting parameter. The posted jobs sorted by the first sortingparameter are preferably further sorted by a second sorting parameter.The second sorting parameter is preferably based upon the most recentcompany login time. One objective of this second sorting parameter is toallow recruiters and/or candidates to determine how active a company ison the site, and possibly alter their strategy regarding that company.Another objective of the second sort is to provide an incentive forcompanies to use the site more frequently, as it provides a more visibleplacement of any or all of their listing at the top of any sortedresults of any of the first sorting parameters.

In a fourteenth variation of the preferred embodiment of the method, acompany may add notes about recruiters that are shared among all or someof the members of that company. Further, a company may add notes about acandidate for members of hiring teams at a company to see. Recruitersmay add notes for their recruiter team members, and/or recruiters mayadd notes about a candidate for a particular company to see. There maybe a fee charged to leave such a note.

All of the foregoing steps, variations and alternatives thereof can beperformed by one or more parties through a computer network of the typedescribed above. The computer network can include for example a websiteincluding software adapted to perform each step, variations andalternatives thereof noted herein. Such a website can be operated by anintermediary. To that end, FIGS. 4-7 are illustrative of a schematicuser interface through which a company may view, edit, manipulate, orotherwise interact with data and in turn interact with one or morerecruiters. For example, the aforementioned FIGURES illustrate anexample user interface whereby a company can view candidate information,recruiter information, active recruiters, performance histories, blockrecruiters, designate preferred recruiters, de-list active recruitersand designate an exclusive recruiter. FIGS. 8-14 are illustrative of aschematic user interface through which a recruiter may view, edit,manipulate, or otherwise interact with data and in turn interact withone or more companies. For example, the aforementioned FIGURESillustrate an example user interface for allowing a recruiter to viewavailable positions for a company, designate itself an active recruiter,view company or information about a candidate, and submit informationabout a candidate to a company.

Although omitted for conciseness, the preferred embodiments includeevery logical combination and permutation of the above variations,alternatives, and versions of the preferred embodiment.

As a person skilled in the art will recognize from the previous detaileddescription and from the figures and claims, modifications and changescan be made to the preferred embodiments of the invention withoutdeparting from the scope of this invention defined in the followingclaims.

I claim:
 1. A method comprising: on a first computer, a second computer,and a third computer interconnectable through a computer network:posting selectively-accessible information about an available positionfor the company on a first computer; posting a bounty for the availableposition on the first computer; receiving information about a candidateat the first computer from a second computer associated with therecruiter for the available position of the company from the recruiter;transmitting the information about the candidate for the availableposition of the company from the first computer to a third computerassociated with the company; and upon the selection by the company of acandidate for the available position, receiving payment from the companyand transmitting a portion of the payment to the recruiter.
 2. Themethod of claim 1, wherein posting selectively accessible informationabout the available position comprises restricting access to theinformation based on the size of the bounty.
 3. The method of claim 1,wherein posting selectively accessible information about the availableposition comprises restricting access to the information based aplacement history for the active recruiters for an available position.4. The method of claim 1, wherein posting selectively accessibleinformation about the available position comprises restricting access tothe information based a number of submissions by the recruiter.
 5. Themethod of claim 1, wherein posting selectively accessible informationabout the available position comprises restricting access to theinformation based on a number of selections of the candidates submittedby the recruiter,
 6. The method of claim 1, wherein posting selectivelyaccessible information about the available position comprisesrestricting access to the information based on a ratio of number ofsubmissions to number of selections of the candidates submitted by therecruiter,
 7. The method of claim 1, wherein posting selectivelyaccessible information about the available position comprisesrestricting access to the information based on a candidate interviewrate for the recruiter.
 8. The method of claim 1, wherein postingselectively accessible information about the available positioncomprises restricting access to the information based on a number ofpositions recently filled by the recruiter.
 9. The method of claim 1,wherein posting selectively accessible information about the availableposition comprises restricting access to the information based on asubmission opened rate of the recruiter.
 10. The method of claim 1,wherein posting selectively accessible information about the availableposition comprises restricting access to the information based on asubmission processed rate by the recruiter.
 11. The method of claim 1,wherein posting selectively accessible information about the availableposition comprises restricting access to the information based on anamount paid to the recruiter.
 12. The method of claim 1, wherein postinga bounty for the available position comprises posting a variable bountyon the first computer.
 13. The method of claim 12, wherein the amount ofthe variable bounty is related to a classification of a viewingrecruiter.
 14. The method of claim 13, wherein the classification of theviewing recruiter is based on one of: a number of submissions by therecruiter; a number of selections of the candidates submitted by therecruiter; a ratio of number of submissions to number of selections ofthe candidates submitted by the recruiter; a candidate interview rate; anumber of recently filled positions; a submission opened rate; asubmission processed rate; or an amount paid to the recruiter.
 15. Themethod of claim 1, further comprising receiving recruiter feedbackrelating to a recruiter at the first computer from the third computer.16. The method of claim 15, wherein the recruiter feedback comprises oneof: a candidate quality metric; a candidate matching success rate; arecruiter courtesy metric; a recruiter efficiency metric; or a recruiterprofessional demeanor metric.
 17. The method of claim 15, furthercomprising delivering the recruiter feedback to a potential candidate.18. The method of claim 1, further comprising soliciting recruiterfeedback relating to a recruiter from the first computer to the thirdcomputer.
 19. The method of claim 18, wherein the recruiter feedbackcomprises one of: a candidate quality metric; a candidate matchingsuccess rate; a recruiter courtesy metric; a recruiter efficiencymetric; or a recruiter professional demeanor metric.
 20. The method ofclaim 19, further comprising delivering the recruiter feedback to apotential candidate.
 21. A method comprising: on a first computer, asecond computer, and a third computer interconnectable through acomputer network: posting a variable bounty for an available position onthe first computer; varying the variable bounty at the first computer inresponse to a recruiter qualification; receiving information about acandidate at the first computer from a second computer associated withthe recruiter for the available position of the company from therecruiter; transmitting the information about the candidate for theavailable position of the company from the first computer to a thirdcomputer associated with the company; and upon the selection by thecompany of a candidate for the available position, receiving paymentfrom the company and transmitting a portion of the payment to therecruiter corresponding to the variable bounty amount for the recruiter.